Improvement in apparatus for catching ctjrculios



M. M. HooToN. APPARATUS FOR GATCHING GURUULIOS.

o I [IWL Patented July l2., ,1870.

z "cams Pneus po.. Putnam-Ha. Msnmomu, oJc.

MARSENA n. HoofroN, orv cLINroN COUNTY, ILLINOIS, AssIoNon To" ll'IllllSllLF AND BUBDEN PULLEN, .OF SAME PLACE.

.team Patent No. 105,333, mal July 12, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS PQR GATCHING A l The Schedule referred tp ln these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, MARSENLM. Hoo'roN, of the lcounty of Clinton and State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Machines `for Catching Ourculios, of which'the following is a speciiieatiomrefe'rence being had l-to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to ourculio-catchers, and, consists in constructingand Varranging `upon :i flame attached to a barrow a circular canvas, so that it -may y be extended under trees with heads of diti'erent height,

or folded at'will, by means of a cord within reach of the operator; alsor'in the nevel construction and arrangementof thelbumpers for striking against the tree, and the receiversfor receiving the curculios as .they slide from the canvas, die. i

In the drawingl 4 Figure -1 is a side view of my machine, showing the canvas extended;

Figure 2 is a' bottom plan view of the same; and vFigure 3 is a view 'of a part detached. VIn constructing-my machine, I make a barrow, A, having its wheelB provided with a'cover, D, and theA space between the piecesor frame forming the' handles, both in front 'and rear of the wheel, also covered.

To the front of the frame of the barrow I connect.

rigidly another frame, (lh-consisting of an outer circu-, lar support, El, the front ends oi' which are attached to the ends of the guides or shafts I, which aie lalso connected to the front end Vof .the barrow, and which form-a' tree-way.7 It also consists of an inner circular support, F, arranged concentrically with the circular-'support E, and has its front ends attached to and terminated by the shafts I; j The arrangement of these circularv supports E and F Vis shown in figs. 1 and 2, in

the'latter the support F 4being shown vindottedlines.

On these supports E. and Ii, Iinount a series of movable radial arms, G, provided with loopso'n their inner ends, through which"'the snpportF passes, and also with eyes on their under sides, at api-oper distance from their ends, `through which the outer circular supportE passes. The outer circular snpportis a little i higher than the inner 0no,so that'thefradial larms G have their outer ends higher than vtheir'inner ones.

v'Io the radial arms G I attach a canvas, H, which, when the arms are extended, forms a conical-shaped receptacle, as shownin fig. 1-. y

The radial arms G I providewith two sets of cords,

'aand b, the former foi' extending tl|c arms, and the' latter for folding them, `with theircanvas.

.lhe cords a, for extending the arms, areat-tached 'to the front arms between the circles, at a point somewhat nearer to the' `outer circle, and are then passed through an eye or pulley, f, in or near the 4front ends oi' the shaft I,"then backward along the treeway through guides, to a point, o, within reach of the operator.

eyes or'p'nlleys on the under sides of the arms, and

through guides on the barrow, to a point, d, within reach of the operator, as shown in iig. 1.

On the outer circular support E, and between the front arms and the ends of the tree-way, are placed two links, g, one on each side of the sameJ and to these links are attached checklines,7 h, one end of which is fastened to the-tree-way at the point where the cord for fextending passes through, and the other is. attached-tothe front or outer radial arm at the point' where the same cord is fastened. These check-lines should be-of about the same length, and the aggregato length of the two on the same sideof the machine must be long enough to reach from the point on the tree-way to which it is attached to thel movable aim where it, the arm, is folded'. The object of vthese links, with their check-lines, is to hold the extension cords a, when'the arms are folded, from the gronnd,.th e extensoncords being passed through them for that purpose.

In front of the wheel-house or cover of the barrow,

and a short distance from the end of-its frame, and just in the rear'of the tree-way, I attach rigidly a'vV- shaped vertical projection, t, shown in dotted linesin fig.'2, iii-which to place a hand bumper, and Awhich I call a bumper-guide.` lh hand bumper is used when the main one cannot be for any reasorniA I make a bumper, K, out of any suitable material,

and of the proper size to suit thetree-wa providing it with pins, j, bent downward, as shown in fig. 3, so as to fit into holes on each side, of thel tree-way,A and to be arranged immediatelyiu front-of; and to have its rear side bear against the frame of the barrow, as 'shown in g. 2. 'As will be readily understood, when made in this way, it may be adjusted to its seat and removed at pleasure.'

Oueach sidev ot' the tree-way, andh'lso as to reach a short distance outward and under the inner end or edge of the-canvas, when extended, I place two semicircular vessels or receptacles, L, so as so permit the inner ends of the movable arms G'to play within their .area.` The cuter edges of these receivers areturned up far enoughH to retain all the curculios or vermin that are carried into them, and their sides next to the -tree-ways are provided with a curved ilauge wide enough to keepany insects from being thrown from the1 canvas into the tree-way.

To my cnrculio-catcher, thus constructed, I add another feature.4 In order to hold the canvas up, and prevent it from dropping down too far when the' arms are folded, I attach to the under side of these arms, and near their outer circular supports, short curved arms, t, arranged so as to extenddownward and backward, as shown in fig. 2. These arms, when the ma- .chine or canvas is folded, reach under the canvas, and

lift and carry it, and thus prevent it from dropping down to be caught by the bushes, or being drawn out of its place.

The method of operating this machine is simple. Having arranged the bumper in position, and extended the canvas, I roil it under the tree to be operated upon. The tree-way allows the machine to be placed immediately under it. Then it is suddenly jarred and shaken by bumping the machine against it, and the curcnlios and other vermin fall upon the canvas and slide into the receptacles at its base.

It is obvious vthat the canvas may be extended before or after the machine` is placed under the t'ree,and

that lthe outer movable arms may be so curved as to lap by one another, and thus, when extended, form a complete circle.

Among the special advantages of my gathering-machine, it will be noticed that the wheel of the barrow forms itsmain support, and that the operator can tilt the front end so as to be higher or lower, at pleasure, and thus run it under trees whose tops or heads are of different height.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim is- 1. A curoulio-gatherer, consistingr of the movable arms G, the circular supports E and 11, with the fenders l attached the shafts I, the extcnding and folding-cords a and b, links g with their check-cords 7:,'and the receivers L, when constructed and arranged to opcratc'substantially as herein described.

2. The combination and arrangement of a curculiocatcher and a barrow, constructed as herein described,

' so that the former may be tilted ou the wheel of the Witnesses:

S. L. HAND, A. P. CROSBY. 

